


Third Time's a Charm (almost, but not quite)

by quinnovative



Series: 4 times Jess calls Kara when something’s wrong with Lena, and 1 time Lena calls Kara herself [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Established SuperCorp, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kara taking care of Lena, a little bit of angsty lena, soft, they love each other soooo much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 06:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11572059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinnovative/pseuds/quinnovative
Summary: Sleepy Lena results in supportive and soft Kara.





	Third Time's a Charm (almost, but not quite)

She doesn’t mean to deprive herself of sleep. It just sort of happens over a month or two, when the hours bleed together and the pages blur and the rest of the world is hidden behind a barricade of reports, designs, and write-ups.

Her mother has staged another attack, public and violent against all the aliens of National City. It fails to some degree, but not before lives are lost.

The CEO has an important meeting with investors that’s been hanging over her head for the better part of six months.

Lena won’t sleep when Kara is out saving the world.

There’s tech to be refined, weaponry to be designed, chemical formulas to be combined.

There are reports to be signed, files to review.

There is always work to do,

And she will always do her best.

It’s not that she doesn’t sleep. She just doesn’t sleep _a lot._ She manages three or four hours on week nights and goes into what Kara refers to as ‘hibernation’ on Sundays when she typically has the day off and sometimes sleeps for upwards of 10 hours. Kara is especially dismayed by Lena’s habits. _(“It’s not healthy, Lena!”_ Kara had pushed a hand through her hair. _“It’s literally so unhealthy! I swear, I won’t hesitate to call Alex and have her tell you just how unhealthy it is.”—_ the eldest Danvers sister has sleeping issues of her own. She and Lena sometimes joke about them to exasperate Kara.)

She promises Kara that she’ll take better care of herself when the month ends and things settle down. But they never do.

It’s a Wednesday. It’s 10 at night and all the lights are turned on in the CEO’s office. It’s 10 at night and Lena’s been awake for 41 hours and she _knows_ she needs to sleep—can tell each time the room spins a little and her hand shakes around the pen in her fingers. She didn’t go into this situation with a good foundation: her last sleep enduring for precisely 3.5 hours.

But there is so much to do, because Kara got injured the previous week by a new chemical—some derivative of green kryptonite that had emerged in a remote facility and found its way into the city during a fight.

And Kara had fallen. Fallen from the sky to the ground and smashed into the pavement, and while she’s 100% absolutely “ _I swear to Rao, Lena”_ fine, the CEO can’t shake the image from her head. So she works, works to figure out what can dismantle the chemical weapon should it arise again. And she’s _so_ close.

She’s so close, she can’t stop now, even though everything is blurred around the edges and her skin feels hot despite the chills that come and go, and her eyelids already hang halfway closed, and she feels a little like she might throw up if she stands too fast.

She tugs another document off the stack on her desk, surrounded by a graveyard of empty coffee mugs and crumpled sheets of inconclusive data.

“Miss Luthor?” There’s a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Lena calls and rubs the heel of her palm across her eyes.

“I was just checking to see if I could get you something?” Jess offers. “Or umm… call your driver perhaps?”

“I thought you’d gone home already, Jess,” Lena says, bypassing the questions. “You don’t need to be here this late.”

“I said I would stay until the new reports from the lab came in, so I could organize them before they got to you. Remember?”

“Right, of course,” Lena says as scraps of the conversation come back to her and she becomes aware that she is missing large chunks of time from this day. “Well, I certainly did not expect it to take this long. Go home, Jess,” Lena says gently. “I’m sorry you waited so long, I didn’t mean to keep you here.”

“It’s okay, Miss Luthor. Will you be leaving shortly?”

“I just have to look over these reports,” Lena says, taps a heap in front of her with the end of her pen.

“I might be overstepping here, but you should probably get some rest. I know you didn’t go home last night.”

“I’m fine, Jess. I appreciate your concern, but there’s some work I still need to get done.” _I’ll be here all night, if I have to; and probably even if I don’t._

Jess nods, mind already made up. Kara is the only one who can make sure Jess’ boss is taken care of, which leaves one option. “Have a good night, Miss Luthor.”

“You as well, Jess.”

“And, keep in mind, I can clear your schedule tomorrow if you need time off. There isn’t anything extremely pressing,” Jess says and skirts around the closing door before Lena can immediately reject her offer.

The minute the door is shut, Lena lets her forehead drop onto the pile of papers, and Jess returns to her own desk and dials the number that is quickly moving up on the office speed dial.

“Jess? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, it’s just that I think Miss Luthor would benefit from seeing you.”

Kara’s already gathering her stuff from her desk at CatCo, closing out of the article she’s spent most of the night working on. She looks at the clock and curses, she didn’t realize it’d gotten so late. “What’s wrong? She’s exhausted and refusing to go home, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“I’m on my way over now. Go home, Jess, I’ll take care of her. Thank you for calling me.”

/

“Lena,” Kara says softly as she cracks open the door and steps inside.

“Kara, hi.” The CEO tears her eyes away from the document in front of her, allows herself the pleasure of seeing Kara’s sweet face looking back at her.

“Come home?” Kara tries, stepping closer. Moonlight outside glimmers off her hair, casts shadows across her frame.

“There’s nothing I want more, but I need to finish up here and there’s so much to do--”

Kara inches toward her again.

“—and I’ve hardly made any real progress. I’m trying my best but the magnitude is just too large and everything I try falls short and I have to get this right because if I don’t you might get hurt again and I _can’t—“_

The blonde takes a step closer.

 _“—_ Kara, I can’t go through that another time, so I have to stay here and I have to get this done because if I don’t… Kara, if I don’t, so many bad things could happen and I—“

“Okay, okay, shhh,” Kara whispers, pulls Lena out of her seat so she’s pressed against Kara and held close. “I’m okay, Lena, and so are you. Everything’s going to be okay.” Lena lets Kara sway them for a minute, lets Kara’s soft words wash over her.

One of Kara’s hands rubs Lena’s back, the other tangles in dark hair as Lena allows herself to stand limp, face nestling Kara’s neck and eyes closing. “You don’t feel good, love,” Kara whispers, lips brushing Lena’s forehead.

“I have a low-grade fever,” Lena mumbles, and it’s really no surprise that her persistent lack of sleep has led to this.

“Since when?” Kara asks gently, leaning back to look at her girlfriend, scrutinize her face for any other signs of discomfort. She doesn’t like the exhaustion expressing itself in tired, red eyes and downturned lips. Kara tugs her back into a hug.

Lena shrugs. “A few hours.”

“Please come home with me, Lena. You need to rest and I miss you, I’m worried.”

“Kara, I need to work. I—“

“Lena, _please.”_ Kara tilts back, moves her hands to both of Lena’s shoulders. “This can all wait. None of it is anywhere near as important as your health. It scares me when you get like this.”

Lena is silent for a while, staring into Kara’s blue eyes, before Lena’s water and she crashes back into Kara’s embrace. “I can’t lose you.”

“And you won’t,” Kara promises, strokes Lena’s hair. “Babe, you’re exhausted. Can I please take you back to my place? Let me take care of you?”

Lena nods, nose bobbing against Kara’s shoulder. She doesn’t trust herself to talk without crying, but Kara doesn’t question it. She keeps Lena held against her frame with one hand, uses the other to gather the CEO’s things.

“Let’s go home,” Kara says and Lena’s nearly asleep before they even take to the sky.

 


End file.
